NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

troff formats text in the filenames for typesetting or laser printing. Input to troff is expected to consist of text interspersed with
formatting requests and macros. If no filename argument is present, troff reads standard input. A minus sign (-) as a filename
indicates that standard input should be read at that point in the list of input files.

The output of troff is usually piped through dpost(1) to create a
printable postscript file (see EXAMPLES).

OPTIONS

The following options are supported. They may appear in any order, but all must appear before the first filename.

-a
Send an ASCII approximation of formatted output to standard output.
(Note: a rough ASCII version can also be printed out on ordinary terminals with an old and rarely used command, /usr/bin/ta.)

-f
Do not print a trailer after the final page of output or cause the postprocessor to relinquish control of the device.

-Fdir
Search directory dir for font width or terminal tables instead of the system default
directory.

-i
Read standard input after all input files are exhausted.

-mname
Prepend the macro file /usr/share/lib/tmac/name to the input filenames. Note: most references to macro packages include the leading m as part of the name; for example, the man(5) macros reside in /usr/share/lib/tmac/an. The macro directory can be changed by setting the TROFFMACS environment variable to a specific path. Be certain to include the trailing '/' (slash) at the end of the path.

-nN
Number the first generated page N.

-olist
Print only pages whose page numbers appear in the comma-separated list of numbers
and ranges. A range N-M means pages N through M; an initial -N means from the beginning to page N; and a final N- means from N to the end.

-q
Quiet mode in nroff; ignored in troff.

-raN
Set register a (one-character names only) to N.

-sN
Stop the phototypesetter every N pages. On some devices, troff produces
a trailer so you can change cassettes; resume by pressing the typesetter's start button.

-Tdest
Prepare output for typesetter dest. The following values can be supplied for dest:

post
A PostScript printer; this is the default value. The output of the -T option must go through dpost(1) before it is sent to a PostScript printer to obtain
the proper output.

aps
Autologic APS-5.

-uN
Set the emboldening factor for the font mounted in position 3 to N. If N is missing, then set the emboldening factor to 0.

-z
Suppress formatted output. Only diagnostic messages and messages output using the .tm request are output.

OPERANDS

The following operand is supported:

filename
The file containing text to be processed by troff.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Using troff

The following example shows how to print an input text file mytext, coded with formatting requests and macros. The input file contains equations and tables and must go through the tbl(1) and eqn(1) preprocessors before it is formatted by troff with ms macros, processed by dpost(1), and printed by lp(1):

SEE ALSO

NOTES

troff is not 8-bit clean because it is by design based on 7-bit ASCII.

Previous documentation incorrectly described the numeric register yr as being the "Last two digits of current year". yr is in actuality the number of years since
1900. To correctly obtain the last two digits of the current year through the year 2099, the definition given below of string register yy may be included in a document and subsequently
used to display a two-digit year. Note that any other available one- or two-character register name may be substituted for yy.